I do appreciate everyone's input but, I have to agree that I think a 540ish CID will work just fine if done smart. I feel the biggest gain you get with CID is the ease to make static compression. Once geometry is correct selecting a happy cam profile will help things live. Although I haven't measured them yet, the MCS on the big '460' Predator in relation to a 540 doesn't look off the charts. Growing 540 to '600' has less effect than growing a 440 to 500 although it's 60 CID either way.